Donald Trump resignation and impeachment watch, June 21st: it’s all in the family
Donald Trump recently admitted to advisers that he’d like to resign (link), and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are now using the word “impeachment” in his direction. This column is a new feature in which we chronicle the latest developments which show how or why Trump has moved closer to resignation and/or impeachment. Here’s our June 21st edition.
The first major news on that front is the revelation that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Donald Trump’s finances is likely to end up enveloping two of his children. That’s according to a new piece from Bloomberg (link) which reveals that Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr were both mixed up in business dealings with Russian mafia figure Felix Sater for nearly a decade. Moreover, Sater was an FBI informant who may or may not have been working against the Trump family the entire time.
So now comes the question of whether Donald Trump would be willing to resign in the hope of preventing the investigation from taking down his own children. Many on the left are firmly of the “Trump is too much of a narcissist to ever resign or to care about anyone but himself” camp. But the reality is that he views his children – or at least those two children – as being an extension of his own ego and legacy. However, there’s even worse news for Trump today.
Last night’s special election was one of the most catastrophic failures in the history of the Republican Party. Tom Price, the Republican House candidate in that district in November, won it by twenty-one points; it’s one of the reddest districts in the nation (link). But Republican Karen Handel won it last night by just four points. That’s a loss of seventeen points. No party ever drops off like that. Ever. This is doomsday devastation for the GOP. If that carries out across the 2018 midterms, the Republicans will lose a hundred seats.
Donald Trump is too politically clueless to understand that last night was a bodyblow for the Republican Party; he mistakenly thinks last night was somehow good news for the GOP. But the Republicans in Congress understand that last night proved most of them are vulnerable in the 2018 midterms. If they weren’t motivated to distance themselves from Trump before, they will be now that they’ve seen the electoral carnage they’re facing in the midterms. If you’re a regular reader, feel free to support Palmer Report
